Publications by authors named "Benjamin D Mercier"
Radiation treatment (RT) is a mainstay treatment for many types of cancer. Recommendations for RT and the radiation plan are individualized to each patient, taking into consideration the patient's tumor pathology, staging, anatomy, and other clinical characteristics. Information on germline mutations and somatic tumor mutations is at present rarely used to guide specific clinical decisions in RT.
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- * FFPE samples from 33 RCC patients were examined, revealing significant differences in immune cell proportions, particularly with higher CD4 and CD8 T cell levels in clear cell RCC compared to papillary RCC.
- * Patients with clear cell RCC showed better median overall survival rates than those with papillary RCC, highlighting important variations in tumor characteristics and immune profiles between the two subtypes.
Objectives: To characterise the restrictiveness of eligibility criteria in contemporary renal cell carcinoma (RCC) trials, using recommendations from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)-Friends of Cancer Research (FCR) initiative.
Methods: vPhase I-III trials assessing systemic therapies in patients with RCC starting between 30 June 2012 and 30 June 2022 were identified. Eligibility criteria regarding brain metastases, prior or concurrent malignancies, hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection were identified and stratified into three groups: exclusion, conditional inclusion, and not reported.
Purpose: Eligibility criteria illustrate the characteristics of the study population and promote the safety of participants. However, overreliance on restrictive eligibility criteria may limit the generalizability of outcomes. As a result, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and Friends of Cancer Research (Friends) issued statements to curtail these challenges.
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- Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is proven to be a safe and effective option for delaying changes in systemic treatment for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC), particularly in those with oligoprogressive disease.
- In a study of 30 patients predominantly with clear cell renal cell carcinoma, genomic analyses showed that the duration of systemic treatment before and after radiation differed, with a median increase observed in treatment duration post-radiation.
- The research indicated that patients showing a ratio of treatment duration pre and post-radiation of ≥1 had heightened expression in cell proliferation pathways, while those with a ratio of ≤1 presented enriched reactive oxygen species pathways, suggesting genomics could guide better radiation treatment decisions in m
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are first-line treatments in the management of advanced solid tumors. Whereas these treatments are directed at eliminating cancer cells, they cause significant adverse effects that can be detrimental to a patient's quality of life and even life-threatening. Diet is a modifiable risk factor that has been shown to affect cancer risk, recurrence, and treatment toxicity, but little information is known how diet interacts with cancer treatment modalities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSince the approval of the COVID-19 vaccines, their safety and efficacy has been widely demonstrated in patients with cancer. However, there remain patients with reservations regarding vaccination. We aimed to assess genitourinary cancer patients' perceptions of the vaccines as well as barriers and influencers of decision-making through the completion of a questionnaire.
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